Proportioner for treating material



Nbv. 19, 1935. H. c. WAUGH 2,021,248

PROPORTIONER FOR TREATING MATERIAL Filed Feb. 25, 1930 Patented Nov. 19,1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PROPORTIONEB FOR TREATING MATERIALApplication February 25, 1930, Serial No. 431,228

dclalms.

My invention relates to a proportioner adapted to control the feed ofwet or dry materials for treating purposes to wet or dry material to betreated.

A purpose of my invention is to use the operation of a meter which ismeasuring one flow to make successive electric contacts andelectromagnetically to proportionately feed a liquid or solid treatingmedium.

A further purpose is to utilize electric impulses caused by a meterwhich measures the flow of a liquid to measure out and discharge intothe liquid a solid or liquid treating material.

A further purpose is to apply electromagnetic impulses controlled by ameter to the operation of any of a large variety of devices forproportionately feeding a treating liquid or solid material.

A further purpose is to provide novel mechanism for adjusting therelation between movement of the meter measuring one flow and adelivering device controlling the feed of a material ,to be mixed withthis flow.

A further purpose is to operate a feed of treating material, liquid orsolid, by solenoidal means controlled by contacts eil'ected at intervalsby the meter.

A further purpose is to form quick make and break contacts through theoperating mechanism of a meter and to electromagnetically utilizecurrent through these contacts for the feeding of treating material intothe liquid measured.

A further purpose is to provide an adjustment of the amount of feed ofan electromagnetlcallyoperated liquid-treating apparatus.

A further purpose is to close an electric circuit by measuring movementof a closed meter subject to pressure, to use the impulses from thecurrent flowing to cause feeding of a treating material to the-liquidmetered, and to adjust the extent of the feeding effected.

Further purposes will appear in the specification and in the claims.

I have preferred to show a few forms only among the many in which myinvention may appear and have selected the forms with special referenceto their illustration of the principles involved.

Figure 1 is a section upon line l-l of Figure 2 but with addedstructure.

Figure 2 is a top plan view of part of the structure seen in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary section corresponding to Figure 1but omitting a gear seen in Figure 1.

industries in which a change, usually chemical,

must be effected.

I recognize that the invention is applicable in a great variety oflocations and through a great variety of distributing or other devices.

The largest immediate use for an invention of this character at presentexists in the treatment of raw water to which a solid or liquid chemicalis added at a rate proportional to the rate of flow of this stream.

In Figure 1 the main flow of liquid to be treated takes place throughpipes, not shown, and a meter whose contact mechanism only is thereshown.

The meter may be of any suitable character 25 having movable parts.

The meter operates a contact mechanismshown in Figure 1 as a pair ofratchet wheels 22 and 23 upon which ride fingers 24 and 25. Thesefingers carry contacts 26 and 21 so connected by con- 3 ductors 28, 29and 30 through battery 3| as to make and break current through anelectromagnet 32 of an operating mechanism which may be a solenoid or anelectromagnet.

The contact mechanism need not be of the 35 same form as that shown,though the type illustrated excellently carries out one desirablefeature of giving a quick make and quick break to avoid partial contact.This prevents arcing across the contacts.

As the ratchets turn in counter-clockwise direction finger 24 snaps fromeach individual cam 22' in turn to make a quick and complete engagementbetween contacts 26 and 21 and this engagement remains undisturbed bythe lifting of finger 25 upon the successive cam 23, to quickly andcompletely break the engagement between the contacts 26 and 21 when thefinger 25 drops from the cam surface 23'.

The ratchet 22 is rigidly attached to the shaft and the ratchet 23frictionally engages the ratchet 22, so that the angular relationbetween the two ratchets may be adjusted by loosening. an engaging nut.

The electromagnetic device shown in Figure 1 u is solenoidal but, as tomy broad invention, is intended to be emblematic merely of anyelectromagnetic device capable of serving the purpose.

The contact-carrying strips 24 and II not only make the contacts butboth act as stops to prevent reverse movement of the ratchet mechanismby which they are operated. Some stop mechanism is needed to preventreversal. It is a part of the meter system and may be secured directlyto any of the meter spindles which can conveniently be extended andwhich has a slow enough movement for the purpose or which, even outsideof the meter is geared down for that use.

The solenoidal core 33 in Figure l is coupled through a joint 34 andpivots 35 with a plurality of ratchet-carrying strips 30 each of whoselatches 31 is adapted to engage with the ratchets 38 upon one of aplurality of ratchet wheels 38 upon a shaft 39. The several latches andratchets are so placed that the latches will engage at different partsof the angular positions of the shaft 39 and in this manner the distancebetween successive teeth is divided up and one or other of the latchesis made effective to engage its ratchet teeth and to correspondinglyturn the shaft during the movement of the engaging pawl. This may beaccomplished by shifting either the latches or the ratchetsprogressively, giving an improved latching sensitiveness proportional tothe number of ratchet wheels used. A holding pawl 40 is applied to eachratchet wheel 38.

The levers 36 are pivoted about any suitable shaft 39 and all lift andlower together when the solenoidal core 33 is lifted and is allowed tolower.

The levers II are fastened together beyond the latches by any suitablemeans such as bolt 4|.

The shaft 39 in this form is connected by any suitable gearing withmechanism by which the feeding of treating solid or liquid material iseffected or is controlled. Mechanism for this purpose-as for the trainof operation already described-is shown and will be explained because ofthe statutory requirement. However, other mechanism for the purpose islater described in order to suggest that the mechanism of Figure 1 isone form only of many forms (of which, necessarily, space permitsshowing of but few) by which my invention may be carried out.

Without intending to restrict the invention by the earlier descriptionnor by that to follow the mechanism shown will be explained.

The shaft 39 carries a pinion 42 which engages a gear 43 upon the sameshaft 44 as a pinion 45 which operates a gear 8. Thisgear is mountedupon shaft 41 which is shown as carrying a sprocket wheel 48 by which abelt, sprocket chain 48 or other operating mechanism is moved; with theeflect that both rotarial movement from any of the shafts and straightline movement from the belt or chain are available for effecting anyfeeding movement desired, of which several examples are hereinafterdescribed.

As the connection between rotarial or straight line movement and thedifferent feeds will be obvious I have not attempted to show theconnection with this operating mechanism in all of the figures.

The several shafts and other mechanisms described are shown as supportedby side frame plates 50 and 5|, but these as well as the number andarrangement of any shafts used and the particular connections by whichthe electro magnetic impulses are integrated may be greatly .varied andare varied in other constructions shown.

The extent of stroke of the solenoidal core or armature determines in asolenoids-l form the amount of feed for each impulse given and this 5 isregulated in this first illustration as best seen in Figure 3.

A shaft I! is pivoted in any frame member ll so that it can be turned bya hand wheel 54 to rotate a thread 52' upon the shaft. The threadcarries a block 56 which is retained against rotation in any suitableway and whose height limits the downward movement of the core orarmature and thus determines the amount of travel. The height of theblock is shown by an outside indicator, not shown, through a worm 1 onshaft '2 and a worm wheel II on a shaft suitably mounted. The shaft mayoperate any kind of a pointer or indicator to show the height of theblock.

In view of my invention and disclosure variations and modifications tomeet individual whim or particular need will doubtless become evident toothers skilled in the art to obtain all or part of the benefits of myinvention without copying the structure shown, and I, therefore, claimall such in so far as they fall within the reasonable spirit and scopeof my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patso ent is:-

1. In a feeding mechanism for proportional addition of treating materialto a liquid, an electric circuit, a source of energy therefor, a contactdevice in the circuit opening and closing the 85 circuit at intervals,an electromagnet in the circuit, an armature therefor, a plurality ofpivoted links connected with said armature to swing with its movement,pawls carried by said links, ratchet wheels with which the pawls engage,the several pawls and their ratchet wheels being staggered,

a shaft to which the ratchet wheels are all secured, a gear mounted onsaid shaft and feedoperating mechanism driven by said gear whereby thetreating material is fed to the liquid. 46

2. In a feeding mechanism for proportional addition of treating materialto a liquid, an electric circuit, a source of energy therefor, a contactdevice in the circuit opening and closing the circuit at intervals, anelectromagnet in the circuit, an armature therefor, a plurality ofpivoted links connected with said armature to swing with its movement.pawls carried by said links, ratchet wheels with which the pawls engage,the several pawls and their ratchet wheels being staggered, a shaft towhich the ratchet wheels are all secured, a gear mounted on said shaft,feed-operating mechanism driven by said gear for delivery of thetreating material to the liquid and an adjustable stop for the throw ofthe armature to 00 vary the rate at which the material is fed.

In an electromagnetic feeding mechanism,

a pair of spring contacts having engaging surfaces adapted to cometogether. a cam surface adapted to engage one of the spring strips tolift it away from the other and to allow it to snap against the otherwhen released from the cam surface and a cam adapted to rotate with thefirst-named cam to engage the second of said strips to leave the secondstrip in position to be engaged by the first strip when released and tosnap free from engagement with the first strip when the second strip isreleased by the second cam surface and an electric circuit closed byengagement of the strips. II

4. A stepJay-step electromagnetic feeding lifted free from contactengagement by the first mechanism, in combination with a quick openingcam and snapping into engagement when freed and quick closing snapswitch therefor, compristherefrom and the second strip being lifted withing first and second cams, first and second spring the first strip bythe second cam during contact 5 strips engaged thereby successively,contact memand snapped free from contact engagement with 5 bers carriedby the strip adapted to engage in the first strip when released by thesecond cam. certain positions of the strip, the first strip being HARVEYC. WAUGK.

